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Sanders Wins Night One of Fall Nationals in Chico

CHICO, CA (9-29-17) - Justin Sanders led all thirty-laps to win the Friday night opener at Silver Dollar Speedway. The 26th Fall Nationals in Tribute to Stephen Allard saw a staggering 57 total winged sprint cars show up for night one. The main event provided tons of passing and lots of exciting moments. Twenty-four cars started the 30-lap finale. The track slicked off in turn four and it seemed to bring out the best in many of the main event starters.

Sanders won the six-lap dash. With the win, Sanders started on the pole position. Joining him on the front row was second place finishing Shane Golobic. From the drop of the green flag, it was evident that Sanders was the car to beat. Yet, behind him, it was a gaggle of cars all vying for second on back. Kyle Hirst passed the most cars. Hirst thrilled the crowd in the B main event when he passed Michael Ing on the final lap to secure the last transfer spot. Hirst would start 24th in the feature. Throughout the race, Hirst passed numerous amounts of cars on his way to an eighth-place finish. Sean Becker was another driver on the charge. Becker started 17th and finished seventh.

Lap 15 was a pivotal point during the main event. Justyn Cox brought his car to a stop in turn two. Sanders was running full speed around the top and couldn't checkup in time. Sanders ran up and over the right side of Cox stalled car. Sanders somehow kept the car going and continued. Of course, he went on to win the race. Up to that point the race featured drivers like Dominic Scelzi, Carson Macedo and Andy Forsberg all swapping second, third and fourth positions. Even Michael Kofoid and Bud Kaeding exchanged on track pleasantries during and after the event with some bumping and banging.

Cody Lamar spun in turn four on lap 23 to bring out the final caution. Sanders held off Golobic and led the field back to the green flag restart. Lapped traffic slowed the progress of Sanders just a bit but he was never seriously challenged by Golobic in the final laps. Forsberg passed Macedo for third during the final few laps. Macedo came home fourth. Dominic Scelzi finished fifth.

Chase Majdic passed Colby Johnson late in the semi-main to get the win. Andy Gregg and Kyle Hirst finished third and fourth and secured the final transfers. High school student Kaleb Montgomery led all 12-laps to win the C main. Mason Moore finished second and was the final transfer. Koen Shaw led all 10-laps to win the D main event. Korey Lovell finished second and transferred to the C main also.

Gio Scelzi was the overall fastest qualifier. His lap time was 11.640. With the large car count the officials decided to split qualifying into two tiers. Willie Croft was the quickest in tier two with a lap of 11.708. Cody Lamar, Justin Sanders, Shane Golobic, and Dominic Scelzi captured heat race wins.

Kalib Henry won the 15-lap spec sprint wingless main event. Henry earned his second career win at Silver Dollar Speedway. Henry is turning into a non-wing specialist. Brett Youngman came home in the second spot and did a respectable job. Terry Schank Jr. came home third. The main event was slowed when Josh Vieira took a nasty tumble in turn four. The flip occurred during the original start. Vieira did not return to the track but was reported to be in good condition. Brent Steck hit the white tire in turn two and his night was done on lap six. Silver Dollar Speedway track champion Tony Richards only completed three laps tonight.

The Northwest Ford Focus Midgets recap will be written by Andrew Kunas at a later time.

Full results can be found on line at www.silverdollarspeedway.com

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